INDEPENDENT STUDY IS CRUCIAL

An independent investigation of New York state's drug sentencing laws is
needed.

Gov. George Pataki is moving in the right direction on New York's
26-year-old Rockefeller drug laws. But his support for easing the strict
sentencing statutes is far from the needed scuttling of the laws.

Pataki, who supported getting rid of the drug laws early in his first term,
is now unpersuaded that they are as draconian as opponents contend. In
fact, he recently released a report that challenges long-standing complaints
that the drug laws are responsible for clogging the prison system with
nonviolent drug offenders who'd be better served by rehabilitation than
prison.

Moreover, opponents of the drug laws have argued convincingly that the
existing drug laws are simply unfair. That certainly seems so when you
consider that a person convicted of selling 2 ounces or possessing 4 ounces
of a narcotic substance must serve a prison sentence of no less than 15
years to life. People convicted of murder and rape in this state don't
serve prison terms that severe.

Pataki's new report insists it's actually rare that such a sentence is
imposed. The study, conducted by the State Division of Criminal Justice
Services, found that few people are sent to state prison upon their first
felony drug conviction and that inmates imprisoned only for drug offenses
usually have extensive arrest records.

So who's right? New Yorkers need to know.

Now more than ever an independent study of the situation is imperative. The
governor's report, after all, was compiled by a state agency. And previous
reports done by opponents of the drug laws are equally suspect.

With support for revamping the drug laws now at an all-time high, easing
them as Pataki is proposing is insufficient. An independent assessment of
the situation and fact-gathering can go far to put the state's sentencing
laws on the right course. Pataki, along with Assembly Speaker Sheldon
Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, should order the independent
study without further delay. Let's get the inarguable facts now.